The chief executive of Leighton Holdings’ controlling shareholder,
Hochtief
, has acknowledged it “took advantage" of the contractor’s weak share price earlier this year to creep up its register.

“We took advantage of a very favourable moment in the development of Leighton’s share price to increase our interest in the company," Hochtief CEO
Marcelino Fernandez Verdes
said in an interview with the German group’s in-house magazine, Concepts.

“An investment in Leighton is an investment in our core business, and our core business is exactly what we want to expand and make more profitable."

Leighton’s share price hit a 52-week low of $14.40 on June 21.

Hochtief started increasing its holdings in Leighton in late June, moving about the 53.5 per cent threshold that it had held for years.

It has since bought more shares, now owning around 56.52 per cent of the company, but can only acquire 3 per cent ever six months.

Leighton’s share price, which hit a 52-week high of $24.29 on February 20, remains relatively low at $17.88, partly due to investor concerns over corporate governance following a Fairfax media investigation into bribery kickbacks. Hochtief’s creep up Leighton’s shareholder register comes as Mr Fernandez Verdes reshapes the German group after being appointed CEO a year ago by Spain’s Grupo ACS, which controls both Hochtief and Leighton.

Mr Fernandez Verdes has been selling non-core assets and cutting jobs, telling Concepts that Hochtief needed “leaner organisational structures, more rapid decision making and simpler processes." To encourage “entrepreneurial thinking", employees would be shifted out of administrative units and put into subsidiaries, he said.